Biography of Valentine Cameron Prinsep 1838-1904

On 14th May 1835 [his father] Henry Thoby Prinsep (age 42) and [his mother] Sarah Monckton Pattle (age 18) were married at Calcutta, India. The difference in their ages was 24 years.

On 14th February 1838 Valentine Cameron Prinsep was born to Henry Thoby Prinsep (age 45) and Sarah Monckton Pattle (age 21) in Calcutta, India.

1860. Valentine Cameron Prinsep (age 21). "The Queen was in the Parlour, Eating Bread and Honey".

1864. Valentine Cameron Prinsep (age 25). "My Lady Betty". See The Athenæum 1864.

The Athenaeum 1864. 14th May 1864. Mr. V. Prinsep’s (age 26) contributions mark a great advance in his powers of design, and, what his former pictures mostly lacked, increased care in drawing, greater clearness and cleanness of bandling and colour, and progress in perception of what properly makes a picture. The last is one of the rarest gifts to a young painter, and often the latest he obtains by practice and thought. To all who give attention to this subject in a broad or philosophical manner, it is wonderful to find how few are the painters who perccive that it is not everything that is fit for the exercise of Art. At least half the pictures in every Exhibition evince no thought on the part of their producers for this matter, and—such is. the painful conclusion we cannot avoid—afford direct proof that their painters have not the primary qualification of an artist. All true artists are born with perception of this kind—some have it as their chief source of power, none have it thrust upon them—although scores get reputations on the strength of mere tricks, which the critic knows to be disdained by legions of unknown but self-respecting wen. Some achieve power of perception, as Mr. V. Prinsep soems to be doing; his Berenice — a mighty woman — is eminently pictorial in subject, and not less so in treatment. It might bave been less unrefined in form of drawing without being less strong than it is My Lady Betty (455), a courtly woman wearing a dress of white, gold-embroidered brocade, and! holding a fan before her as she walks, is inferior in subject to the last, but surpasses it in pictorial power displayed. It is very solid and good in execution. Benedick and Beatrice. (560) has perhaps. more subject, in the ordinary sense of the word, which implies something the ordinary spectator finds tangible, but it is Iess valuable as a picture than ‘My Lady Betty,’ and has parts that are very badly drawn,

On 11th February 1878 [his father] Henry Thoby Prinsep (age 85) died.

1882. Valentine Cameron Prinsep (age 43). "At the Golden Gate".

Around 1883. Joseph Parkin Mayall (age 44). Portrait of Valentine Cameron Prinsep (age 44).

On 28th July 1884 Valentine Cameron Prinsep (age 46) and Florence Leyland (age 24) were married at St George's Church, Hanover Square. The difference in their ages was 21 years.

1885. Valentine Cameron Prinsep (age 46). "Unprofessional Beauty"

On 15th December 1887 [his mother] Sarah Monckton Pattle (age 71) died.

1892. Valentine Cameron Prinsep (age 53). Portrait of Ann Fitzgerald Mackay Lady Simpson (age 35) wife of Walter Grindlay Simpson 2nd Baronet (age 48). The painting was donated to Glasgow Museums in 1953 by her daughter Ethel Lucy Florence McKay Simpson (age 16).

Ann Fitzgerald Mackay Lady Simpson: In 1857 she was born to Alexander Mackay and Isabella Catherine Thomson at Ness Caithness. On 13th January 1881 Walter Grindlay Simpson 2nd Baronet and she were married at Banchory-Devenick. On 22nd October 1941 she died at Oxford, Oxfordshire [Map].

Walter Grindlay Simpson 2nd Baronet: On 1st September 1843 he was born to James Young Simpson 1st Baronet. He was baptised on 14th October 1843. On 6th May 1870 James Young Simpson 1st Baronet died at 52 Queen Street Edinburgh. His son Walter succeeded 2nd Baronet Simpson of Strathavon and the City of Edinburgh. On 29th May 1898 he died at Balabraes Ayton. His son James succeeded 2nd Baronet Simpson of Strathavon and the City of Edinburgh.

Ethel Lucy Florence McKay Simpson: On 2nd November 1875 she was born to Walter Grindlay Simpson 2nd Baronet and Ann Fitzgerald Mackay Lady Simpson. On 25th January 1908 Arthur Willert and she were married. On 3rd April 1955 she died.

1899. Valentine Cameron Prinsep (age 60). "Cinderella".

Around 1900. Valentine Cameron Prinsep (age 61). Portrait of Frances Layland Lady Layland-Barratt (age 35).

Frances Layland Lady Layland-Barratt: In 1865 she was born. In 1884 Francis Layland-Barratt 1st Baronet and she were married. On 23rd July 1908 Francis Layland-Barratt 1st Baronet was created 1st Baronet Layland Barratt of the Manor House and of Trefgarne Lodge. She by marriage Lady Layland Barratt of the Manor House and of Trefgarne Lodge. In 1953 she died.

Around 1900. Valentine Cameron Prinsep (age 61). Portrait of Francis Layland-Barratt 1st Baronet (age 40).

Before 11th November 1904. Valentine Cameron Prinsep (age 66). "Gamekeeper's Daughter".

Before 11th November 1904. Valentine Cameron Prinsep (age 66). Portrait of Theresa Susey Helen Chetwynd-Talbot Marchioness Londonderry (age 48).

On 11th November 1904 Valentine Cameron Prinsep (age 66) died. He was buried at Brompton Cemetery, Kensington.

New York Times 13 Nov 1904. 13th November 1904. VAL PRINSEP (deceased), R. A., DEAD. Well-Known English Artist Was Born in India in 1838.

LONDON, Nov. 12.—Valantine Cameron Prinsep, R. A., better known as Val Prinsep, Professor of Painting to the Royal Academy, died yesterday from the effects of an operation.

It was thought in 1896 that Val Prinsep would be elected President of the Royal Academy, but Sir Edward Poynter was (age 68) the successful candidate.

Mr. Prinsep was born in India in 1838. but was educated in England, returning to the land of his birth in 1876 to paint what is perhaps his best-known work, the "Declaration of the Queen as Empress" at the famous Delhi Durbar. A pupil of Watts and Gleyre, Prinsep exhibited his first picture at the Academy in 1862, when he was twenty-four years old. He achieved rapid success and became an A. R. A. in and an R. A. in 1894. He was an author and playwright as well as a painter.

Mr. Prinsep married a daughter [[his former wife] Florence Leyland (age 45)] of the late [his former father-in-law] F. R. Leyland, the patron of Whistler and Rossetti. When Mr. Leyland died there was a good deal of criticism of the Prinseps because the "Peacock Room" in his London house was not preserved where the public could see it. This work of Whistler, who was a fellow-pupil of Prinsep under Gleyre, has recently been bought by an American.

On 22nd July 1921 [his former wife] Florence Leyland (age 61) died. She was buried with her husband Valentine Cameron Prinsep, who had died seventeen years before, at Brompton Cemetery, Kensington.

Frederick Luke Val Fildes was born to Luke Fildes. His godfather was Valentine Cameron Prinsep.